Design activism in the HCI classroom

In HCI, design activism has been practiced but has not been well articulated or discussed. There are examples of activism in the HCI classroom, opening a new avenue of discussion and investigation for the role of design activism in HCI. We present two case studies that show design activism in the classroom as examples from which to learn. We highlight themes and observations to encourage future articulation and practice of design activism in HCI and HCI education

A sustainable design fiction: Green practices

In this article, we argue that an approach informed by practice theory coupled with design fiction provides useful insights into the role of interaction design with respect to environmental sustainability.We argue that a practice-oriented approach can help interaction designers step away from models of individual behavior and studies of artifacts towards seeing sustainable behaviors as part of multidimensional and interrelated practices and practice elements. We analyze two previously conducted studies. The first study of everyday repair focuses on how people repair their broken objects. The second study of green-DIY examines how green enthusiasts facilitate their practices of making sustainable DIY (do-it-yourself ) projects. We describe the practices of everyday repairers and green enthusiasts in terms of materials, competences, and meanings, and the interrelations among those elements, using the framework of Shove et al. [2012]. We argue that understanding the dynamics of practice and their unique configurations is a starting point to redefine the roles of sustainable interaction design (SID). We propose that designers design towards resources and tools in ways that reflect on the challenges of intelligibility of their design interventions in practices. In addition to considering SID in the light of practice theories, we reveal how design fictions are readily incorporated into green practices in ways that transform those practices and hold implications for transformations of design as well. We bring forward opportunities for designers to co-design with DIY enthusiasts, targeted as practitioners in their own right, designing toward or within a design fiction. As a result, we conclude with the possibility for sustainable interaction designers to become practice-oriented designers who design with transparent open strategies and accessible materials and competences

Modulation inhibitorischer Rezeptorsysteme im Vorderhorn des Rückenmarks durch Sevofluran

Das Vorderhorn des Rückenmarks ist die Region des zentralen Nervensystems, in der volatile Anästhetika (wie zum Beispiel Sevofluran) Immobilität über eine Hemmung neuronaler Aktionspotentialaktivität induzieren. Die Gesamtaktivität des neuronalen Netzwerkes wird maßgeblich über inhibitorisch wirkende GABAA- und Glycin-Rezeptoren kontrolliert. Ziel dieser Studie war es zu klären, welche Bedeutung diese beiden inhibitorischen Rezeptorsysteme für die Vermittlung von Immobilität auf Rückenmarksebene bei verschiedenen Sevoflurankonzentrationen haben. Hierzu wurden elektrophysiologische Untersuchungen an organotypischen Gewebekulturen des Rückenmarks von Mäusen durchgeführt. Sevofluran wurde in drei unterschiedlichen Konzentrationen 0,5 MAC, 1 MAC und 1,5 MAC appliziert. Die inhibitorischen Rezeptorsysteme GABAA und Glycin wurden durch selektive Blockade mit den Antagonisten Bicucullin und Strychnin pharmakologisch isoliert. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchungen zeigten, dass Sevofluran die Aktionspotentialaktivität von Neuronen im Vorderhorn des Rückenmarks konzentrationsabhängig hemmt. So führt die Applikation von 0,5 MAC Sevofluran zu einer Reduzierung der Aktionspotentialaktivität um ca. 50 %, 1 MAC Sevofluran um 84 % und 1,5 MAC Sevofluran reduziert die Aktivität um 88 %. Über selektive Blockade des GABAA- und Glycin-Rezeptors konnte der Anteil des jeweiligen Rezeptors an der Hemmung der Aktionspotentialaktivität isoliert betrachtet werden. Die Darstellung erfolgt dimensionslos als MW±SEM: Bei ansteigenden Sevoflurankonzentrationen kommt es zu einer Zunahme des glycinergen Anteils an den inhibitorischen Effekten (0,5 MAC Sevofluran 1,14±0,17, 1 MAC Sevofluran 1,42±0,18, 1,5 MAC Sevofluran 1,64±0,21). Dagegen nimmt der GABAerge Anteil bei ansteigenden Sevoflurankonzentrationen ab (0,5 MAC Sevofluran 1,23±0,2, 1 MAC Sevofluran 1,17±0,15, 1,5 MAC Sevofluran 0,86±0,11). Diese Studie zeigt, dass sowohl GABAA- als auch Glycin-Rezeptoren an der Hemmung von Aktionspotentialaktivität im Vorderhorn des Rückenmarks beteiligt sind. Es konnte auch gezeigt werden, dass bei hohen Sevoflurankonzentrationen die Hemmung der neuronalen Aktivität vorwiegend über Glycinrezeptoren vermittelt wird und weniger über die GABAA-Rezeptoren

A Short Guide To Material Speculation: Actual Artifacts For Critical Inquiry

Speculative and fictional approaches have long been implemented in human-computer interaction and design techniques through scenarios, prototypes, forecasting, and envisionments. Recently, speculative and critical design approaches have reflectively explored and questioned possible, and preferable futures in HCI research. We propose a complementary concept – material speculation – that utilizes actual and situated design artifacts in the everyday as a site of critical inquiry. We see the literary theory of possible worlds and the related concept of the counterfactual as informative to this work. We briefly present three examples of interaction design artifacts that can be viewed as material speculations.&nbsp

Eclipse: Eliciting the Subjective Qualities of Public Places

In this Pictorial we explain and describe Eclipse, a method aimed at eliciting subjective qualities of people’s experiences of and relationships with public places. Our method guides participants to sequentially explore their memories, sensations, sense of place, and stories related to a public place. Our goal is to present this method in a pictorial form to make it more concise and more easily usable by other interaction designers; in this, we want to depict the richness and qualities of the elicitations, and ultimately the subjective qualities of a public place

Material Speculation: Actual Artifacts for Critical Inquiry

Speculative and fictional approaches have long been implemented in human-computer interaction and design techniques through scenarios, prototypes, forecasting, and envisionments. Recently, speculative and critical design approaches have reflectively explored and questioned possible, and preferable futures in HCI research. We propose a complementary concept – material speculation – that utilizes actual and situated design artifacts in the everyday as a site of critical inquiry. We see the literary theory of possible worlds and the related concept of the counterfactual as informative to this work. We present five examples of interaction design artifacts that can be viewed as material speculations. We conclude with a discussion of characteristics of material speculations and their implications for future design-oriented research.&nbsp

An integrated approach to supply chain risk analysis

Despite the increasing attention that supply chain risk management is receiving by both researchers and practitioners, companies still lack a risk culture. Moreover, risk management approaches are either too general or require pieces of information not regularly recorded by organisations. This work develops a risk identification and analysis methodology that integrates widely adopted supply chain and risk management tools. In particular, process analysis is performed by means of the standard framework provided by the Supply Chain Operations Reference Model, the risk identification and analysis tasks are accomplished by applying the Risk Breakdown Structure and the Risk Breakdown Matrix, and the effects of risk occurrence on activities are assessed by indicators that are already measured by companies in order to monitor their performances. In such a way, the framework contributes to increase companies' awareness and communication about risk, which are essential components of the management of modern supply chains. A base case has been developed by applying the proposed approach to a hypothetical manufacturing supply chain. An in-depth validation will be carried out to improve the methodology and further demonstrate its benefits and limitations. Future research will extend the framework to include the understanding of the multiple effects of risky events on different processe

Elaboration and validation of a measure to evaluate the knowledge of primary care physicians in Brazil about nutritional recommendation for hypertension control

Introdução: Médicos da Atenção Primária à Saúde têm papel primordial no aconselhamento nutricional para reduzir a morbidade e a mortalidade relacionadas à hipertensão. A literatura é escassa em instrumentos validados para o Brasil que avaliam o conhecimento com base em evidências desses profissionais. Objetivo: Elaborar uma medida para avaliar o nível de conhecimento de médicos de atenção primária do Brasil sobre recomendação nutricional para o controle de hipertensão arterial. Método: Utilizou-se de um instrumento validado para a língua inglesa como base para elaboração da medida, a qual foi testada de acordo com os fundamentos da Teoria de Resposta ao Item. A dimensionalidade do questionário foi realizada na matriz de correlação policórica. Para estimar os parâmetros dos itens, foi utilizado o modelo logístico de dois parâmetros (discriminação e dificuldade). Resultados: A maioria dos itens foi considerada fácil, e o poder discriminativo variou entre valores altos, moderados e baixos. A ausência de itens difíceis contribuiu para a imprecisão da medida entre aqueles com níveis superiores de conhecimento. Conclusão: Os resultados mostram uma medida que mensura com melhor precisão médicos com baixo nível de conhecimento, sendo uma ferramenta útil para identificar profissionais que precisam melhorar seu conhecimento nutricional.Background Primary health care physicians play a leading role in nutritional counseling to reduce hypertension related to morbidity and mortality. The literature is scarce on instruments validated for Brazil that evaluate the evidence based on knowledge of these professionals. Objective To elaborate a measure to evaluate the level of knowledge about nutritional recommendation for the control of hypertension for primary care physicians in Brazil. Method A validated instrument for the English language was used as the basis for the questionnaire elaboration, which was tested according to the fundamentals of the Item Response Theory. The dimensionality of the questionnaire was performed on the polychoric correlation matrix. For the estimation of the parameters of the items, the two Parameters Logistic Model (discrimination and difficulty) was used. Results Most of the items were considered easy, the discriminative power varied between high, moderate and low values. The absence of difficult items contributed to the imprecision of the measure among those with higher levels of knowledge. Conclusion The results show a measure that accurately measures physicians with a low level of knowledge, being a useful tool to identify professionals who need to improve their nutritional knowledge

Cardiorespiratory fitness and development of childhood cardiovascular risk: The EXAMIN YOUTH follow-up study

Background: Obesity- and hypertension-related cardiovascular (CV) risk has been shown to originate in childhood. Higher body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP) have been associated with increased large artery stiffness and a lower microvascular arteriolar-to-venular diameter ratio (AVR) in children. This study aimed to investigate the association of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with development of BMI, BP and vascular health during childhood.Methods: In our prospective cohort study, 1,171 children aged 6–8 years were screened for CRF, BMI, BP, retinal vessel diameters and pulse wave velocity using standardized protocols. Endurance capacity was assessed by 20 m shuttle run test. After 4 years, all parameters were assessed in 664 children using the same protocols.Results: Children with a higher CRF at baseline developed a significantly lower BMI (β [95% CI] −0.09 [−0.11 to −0.06] kg/m2, p < 0.001), a lower systolic BP (β [95% CI] −0.09 [−0.15 to −0.03] mmHg, p = 0.004) and a higher AVR (β [95% CI] 0.0004 [0.00004 to 0.0007] units, p = 0.027) after 4 years. The indirect association of CRF with development of retinal arteriolar diameters was mediated by changes in BMI.Conclusion: Our results identify CRF as a key modulator for the risk trajectories of BMI, BP and microvascular health in children. Obesity-related CV risk has been shown to track into adulthood, and achieving higher CRF levels in children may help counteract the development of CV risk and disease not only in pediatric populations, but may also help reduce the burden of CVD in adulthood.Registration:http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ (NCT02853747)

The ENPP1 Q121 Variant Predicts Major Cardiovascular Events in High-Risk Individuals: Evidence for Interaction With Obesity in Diabetic Patients

Insulin resistance (IR) and cardiovascular disease may share a common genetic background. We investigated the role of IR-associated ENPP1 K121Q polymorphism (rs1044498) on cardiovascular disease in high-risk individuals